QUIZ
WILL YOU SAIL OR STUMBLE ON THESE GRAMMAR QUESTIONS?
Smoothly step over to these common grammar mistakes that trip many people up. Good luck!
Question 1 of 7
Fill in the blank: I can’t figure out _____ gave me this gift.
Idioms about wait
lie in wait, to wait in ambush: The army lay in wait in the forest.
wait table. table (def. 26).
Origin of wait
First recorded in 1150–1200; (verb) early Middle English waiten, from Anglo-French waitier;Old French guaitier, from Germanic; cognate with Old High German wahtēn “to watch,” derivative of wahta ”a watch” (see wake1); (noun) late Middle English, from Anglo-French, derivative of waitier
synonym study for wait
1. Wait, tarry imply pausing to linger and thereby putting off further activity until later. Wait usually implies staying for a limited time and for a definite purpose, that is, for something expected: to wait for a train. Tarry is a somewhat archaic word for wait, but it suggests lingering, perhaps aimlessly delaying, or pausing (briefly) in a journey: to tarry on the way home; to tarry overnight at an inn.
usage note for wait
15e, f. Sometimes considered objectionable in standard usage, the idiom wait on meaning “to wait for, to await (a person)” is largely confined to speech or written representations of speech. It is most common in the Midland and Southern United States: Let's not wait on Rachel, she's always late. Wait on or upon (an event) does not have a regional pattern and occurs in a wide variety of contexts: We will wait on (or upon ) his answer and make our decision then. The completion of the merger waits upon news of a drop in interest rates.
WORDS THAT MAY BE CONFUSED WITH wait
wait , weightWords nearby wait
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
How to use wait in a sentence
British Dictionary definitions for wait
wait
/ (weɪt) /
verb
noun
Word Origin for wait
C12: from Old French waitier; related to Old High German wahtēn to wake 1
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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Other Idioms and Phrases with wait
wait
The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.